The irony is appalling -- an apparent trade-off between a few seconds of pain in the ears for the shooter and the ultimate nightmare for his victims.

Loughner may have planned to kill himself after the mass shooting, either by saving a round for his own skull or going down in a hail of police bullets. If so, it's unfathomable why he'd feel the need for ear protection. Maybe he thought preserving his hearing would allow him to carry out his maniacal mission more effectively. Or maybe this is just another sign that he'd gone completely bonkers.

Here are a few other infamous cases in which the perpetrators of massacres brought along ear protection:

* On December 1, 1997, 14-year-old Michael Carneal arrived at his school, Heath High in West Paducah, Kentucky, inserted ear plugs and opened fire on classmates, killing three.

* Michael McLendon, 28, didn't like some his co-workers at an Alabama poultry plant. He had a list with names, including that of a co-worker who'd reported him for not wearing ear protection at work, as required. When he went on a killing spree in March of 2009, slaying five relatives and five innocent bystanders, he wore ear plugs.

* Workplace shooter Timothy Hendron, 51, wore ear plugs while shooting more than 100 rounds from two handguns, a shotgun and a rifle. Three people were killed.

* In 1988, a reverend at a Baptist church in Emporia, Kansas saw a man enter the church wearing what appeared to be "bright orange earmuffs." When he heard gunfire ring out, he realized the ear muffs were the sort of ear protectors commonly used at gun ranges. One person was killed and four others injured.

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Furthermore, they may be either disposable or nondisposable,with foam and silicone ones generally being disposable or for use a relatively limited number of times, while solid ones generally may be regarded as nondisposable. A variation of the traditional foam earplug is the no-roll foam earplug that uses a built-in central stem to push the foam plugs into the ears. These earplugs achieve a seal due to their tapered shape, rather than expansion after being rolled.

I consider it quite likely that Loughner's rampage might well boil-down to being a psychotically conceived, extremely elaborate suicide.(All on his subconscious:) by his rampage, and its consequences, he "removes responsibility" for suicide from self, and "delegates responsibility" for his being executed to the legal process.Sort of like the well-known "cops suicide," whereby someone who wants to end-themselves approaches a policeman in a threatening manner, thus hoping to precipitate the policeman to slay him.Loughner's case might be seen as a hyper-elaborate version of that suicidal intent.And all of this could be entirely sublimated, to his consciousness. he might not even be aware of it.

When assassinating Judge Roll-- the judge whose ruling was used to overturn the Brady Bil---l they wanted to make sure he carried out his mission and was not distracted.Eventually it will be revealed that Loughner was on psychotropic (mind control) drugs as all mass shooters have always been starting with Charles Whitman. This was really a multigoal operation: (a) Gun Control was pushed forward, (b) Judge Roll was finally punished for helping Sheriff Richard Mack defeat the Brady Bill. (c) Judge Roll was stopped before he could rule against the bankers being able to continue foreclosing on millions of Americans whose loans were illegally not registered by the banks in local court houses as required by law each time the loans were resold to other banks and used as derivatives. Since JUDGE ROLL was known to follow the law and caselaw and the Constitution thoroughly and completely and cross all his q's and t's it is most likely that his ruling(s) in these matters would have stood up in higher courts, including the Supreme court, this would have cost the bankers trillions in profits and would saved millions of Americans their homes. So the truly honorable Judge Roll was a marked man. In this newest period of escalating violent there will be many more MK ULTRA Style useful idiots. Quantico has many more already trained & being trained right now.

why do most psycho killers and the most violent and criminal people in society today look so clean cut and short haired? new times should do a story on this subject. i think they use that clean cut short haired look to fool the naive ignorant public into thinking they are just are all round sweet innocent swell guys. but in reality the clean cut short haired looks hides the evil that lurks inside their dark souls.

We get it, Loughner was bad. I knew that from the beginning, but these lists are getting a little old. Pretty soon, you're going to do a list on how many people took a taxi to their location, how many took a leak right before they stared, how many wore tennis shoes, how many got a ticket the same day, how many got tackled by two people, while another grabbed the magazine while reloading, etc...

It's one thing when you guys have intersting stories, but these are getting old. It seems like every website wants to have a 'Top ten' list now, and usually they aren't worth the load time. Sorry, you guys post some stellar stuff, but I've been having issues with your lists for awhile now.

More stories about the tragedy, warning signs that were ignored, what would have changed the outcome, these are all good, but no more lists, please.

Jesus, if anyone is on psychotropic drugs it's obviously you. Don't hog them all, no need to be greedy, please share with the rest of us who have to either rely on just drinking beer or drop things on our feet so we can get some Percocet...